Conversation Between ChristianAnarchist and heavenlyboy34

10 Visitor Messages

  1. There are two "translations". The most obvious translation is from Aramaic to English which will no doubt contain errors. The other "translation" that people don't often realize is TIME. Every language undergoes changes in time and geographical location. English in the South is different to some degree than English in the North. English from last century is different than English today. To translate something from an ancient language to contemporary English is a very real challenge and I'm not sure that they got it right.
  2. Everything you say is true. I do believe that most of what is written about Jesus is true. I also believe there are some errors. I have no proof for any of this except for my own life experiences and observations about how many "errors" are injected into everything written down (or translated). I can imagine how the apostles had to deal with running from authorities and then telling others about their experiences. I doubt that they would have intentionally falsified anything in their storytelling but it's so common to miss-remember events or even add an innocent embellishment. This would be the first layer of "errors". Then you would have additional "errors" in copies. If Mark was written in 70 AD do we have the version written in his hand? Not to my knowledge. Whatever copy we have is sure to contain some errors by the scribes. Another layer of errors would be translation. (continued)
  3. Actually, Mark was written c. 70 AD. This is confirmed by archaeology by many hundreds of copies with few discrepancies. It is a long time for certain, but we have oral tradition and writings by 1st century Christians and others demonstrating the existence of Jesus. (there is no reason that I know to doubt these Christians and Church fathers) As far as demonstrable proof of people/events in the ancient world, very few compare to the synoptic gospels. I gtg for now, but I hope to continue this conversation ASAP. Pleasure chatting with you, brother. ~hugs~
  4. What can we call "the original" gospel? There are the dead sea scrolls. There are other ancient manuscripts. These all differ from each other in many ways. Then there's the fact that nothing seems to get any closer historically to the actual life of Jesus than 100-200 years after his death. There's bound to be some issues with inaccuracies that occurred in that first 100 years after Christ where the Church is very small and in persecution. Really, we can't even trust what's being written about things halfway around the planet (or even across the street) so how can we put that much confidence in anything written so long ago and by authors whose identity is unverified?
  5. What do you mean by "tampered with"? There are many many dozens of copies of the gospels alone, and the variations among them are so insignificant that literary analysts don't consider them to affect the truth/accuracy of them. I don't mean to come off as hostile, btw. I'm genuinely interested in your POV because it differs from my studies.
  6. You are right about my beliefs not being "in line" with common interpretation of the Bible. My belief is that what we call the Bible, although inspired for the most part, is not 100% accurate. I think it's been tampered with. In a way one can say my "picking" of what I think is legitimate is a cop out but then if I'm right that some things are not accurate, who is to tell me what is accurate? I must make my own judgment.
  7. I like what you've done with your blog. It's very thoughtful and well designed. Keep up the good work.
  8. I have found a link you will find useful. http://www.kingdomnow.org/withinyou.html This is Tolstoy's treatise "The Kingdom Of God Is Within You". He makes the Christian argument against government, particularly in Chapter X "EVIL CANNOT BE SUPRESSED BY THE PHYSICAL FORCE OF THE
    GOVERNMENT--THE MORAL PROGRESS OF HUMANITY IS BROUGHT
    ABOUT NOT ONLY BY INDIVIDUAL RECOGNITION OF THE TRUTH
    BUT ALSO THROUGH THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A PUBLIC OPINION". Enjoy!
  9. I define "The State" as a false religion. It only exists in the minds of the believers. I'm not a member of that religion...
  10. Welcome to the forums! I don't come here to often anymore, so I didn't notice when you arrived. Nice to see a Christian Anarchist around here. Which definition of "The State" do you find most accurate? (if I may ask)
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